Inman's run ends at American Legion state playoffs

In an epic struggle that went 15 innings at Riley Park, host team Sumter was the one that came out on top, 4-3, and advanced to the championship.

By TODD SHANESYtodd.shanesy@shj.com

SUMTER — The state director of American Legion baseball in South Carolina stepped into the Inman Post 45 dugout Tuesday afternoon and told the players it was probably the best game he'd ever seen.There wasn't much of a reaction.Not that they weren't appreciative, but most of guys didn't even look up. They were too tired and too heartbroken.In an epic struggle that went 15 innings at Riley Park, host team Sumter was the one that came out on top, 4-3, and advanced to the championship. “That was one heck of a ball game,” Inman head coach Steve Skinner said. “Unfortunately, we ended up on the losing side of it.”Sumter will play at 11 this morning against Florence, which stayed undefeated in the tournament with a 15-4 win against Camden and will have two chances to get one victory for the state championship, a second in three seasons.Inman scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead. Sumter got one back in the seventh to tie it and they stayed that way, locked in a stalemate, for seven more innings. Javon Martin led off the 15th with a single, Phillip Watcher eluded a tag at first on a sacrifice and they were both bunted over by Jacob Watcher. River Soles hit a sacrifice fly to left field and, finally, there was a run on the board.Brooks Richardson singled to start the bottom half for Inman, but the next three went down in order to end it after nearly 4½ hours.Sumter's Chris Crawford, who started in the outfield, pitched a remarkable 10 innings of shutout relief. “That's the pitching performance of the tournament,” Sumter head coach Curtis Johnson said. “Ten scoreless innings. That was pretty impressive. He kept Inman off-balance and got out of some jams. He battled and competed. I'm very proud of him.”Pitching was impressive all day. Inman used Bradley Gentry into the seventh. Jonah Corn came in to get out of a jam and keep it tied at 3, and then went four more frames. He got a strikeout to end the 11th with the bases loaded. Then it was Jordan Edney, who didn't allow anybody to reach second base until the 15th. For Sumter, starter Britton Beatson was charged with three runs, but only one earned, in five-plus innings. Post 45, despite the heroics of Crawford, did have its chances. There was a failed squeeze bunt attempt in that three-run sixth, with another runner in scoring position. Inman had a runner on second with one out in the seventh, again in the eighth and left one on third in the ninth.But that was about it. During the final six innings, Inman could only get a runner to second base one time. That was after a two-out single and a walk in the 13th.“Things were not working for us and I was trying to think of something else to do,” Skinner said. “It just wasn't there for us today.”Richardson finished with four hits and an RBI. Gavin Bishop was 3-for-4 with three walks. Chris Stewart and Landon Collins also had three hits each.Inman (24-8), the No. 1 seed from the upper state and the last one standing from that region, had dramatic victories in its first two games of this eight-team tournament. Post 45 scored two in the ninth to beat Hartsville and three in the ninth of an eventual 10-9 win against Camden in 10 innings. On Monday, however, in a winners' bracket game, Inman lost, 13-1, to Florence.“I tell you what,” Skinner said. “Not a lot of ball teams that got beat like we did yesterday would come back and play the way we did today. It just didn't work out for us here. But there's nothing to be ashamed about. We put together 16 wins in a row. Not many ball teams do that. We had a great year.”

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